As the wind shifted abruptly I remembered the market pundits and their “catch a falling knife” question, and as I tensed for the fly fishing equivalent, wind driven lead core on a collision course for my unprotected haunch, I knew this had to be what was meant …

Everything involving freshwater has been a complete disappointment this year, not just in my area, rather it seems the entire continent has suffered through too hot, too little, or too much, and us anglers are reduced to hoping a vigorous lawn mowing can become a surrogate for woodsy adventure.

I traded untamable CFS and water levels for a peek at tide tables – hoping their predictability will be a welcome change given the guesswork of fishing my normal haunts, which seems to favor too high or the uncontrollable brown torrent. Most shop reports seem a bit unreliable – given their desperation at luring a few paying customers, and given an hour’s drive into the woods or towards the ocean, I’m taking the ocean for the remainder of the season.

Living inland for the last couple of decades has crimped my saltwater fishing entirely, although memories of throwing a five weight sinking line into the brine of Crissy Field, or being chased out of the yacht harbor are still fresh.

Rock hopping for salt water fish is nothing like what we’ve seen of Florida saltwater or the mild surf of the East Coast; there’s no flats to speak of, no sun bronzed guides polling through marl, and almost every access to good water involves bleeding, twisted extremities, and a great deal of cursing …

Whatever limbs aren’t being twisted or scraped on slippery rocks are being filleted by fast moving lead core, or wind based slop in a cast that can’t be evaded.

… you learn never to move fast unless it’s a wave coming, everything else is liable to cause greater pain.

My youth was a couple of decades of fishing those same rocks with boat rods and bait, we learned to make our own tackle, castoff spark plugs and tobacco sacks filled with beach sand, knowing the combination of salt water, harsh environment and wave action destroys everything.

A big spool of lead core serves as fly line, given there is always a rogue wave sending you scrambling while your fly line is washed against kelp flumes and wrapped tight against mussel beds. Drawing a normal fly line tight will sever it instantly on a sharp mussel or barnacle shell – so you dispense with expensive factory tackle and build everything you need.

A ten weight head (~ 300 grains, Hi-Speed Hi-D Sci Angler) is 25 grams, and a spool of 13 grain/foot lead core can be spooled onto a scale and trimmed to the proper weight. A couple of barrel knots attaching loops of 50 lb Maxima at each end and a four foot level leader of 15 or 20 lb test is all the terminal tackle needed.

Flies are whatever you have left over from Shad or steelhead (for smaller mouths like Perch) and anything resembling minnow in whatever color and size you think best serves briny appetites.

Everything is going to get torn to pieces by the fish, poor footing, the salt air, or pounding surf, so epoxy anything that isn’t welded to the hook shank already.

Nylon yarns serve better than fragile feathers and bucktail. Skeins of the eyelash variants (recently marketed by Jay Fair as Swimming Hackle) are tough as nails and resist color fade, making them useful in fresh water for bass flies and in salt water as streamers.

Lead core heads are shorter than the traditional 30 foot length, and as wind is always an issue, you’ll tend to add more steam to the cast to keep it away from your flesh. Fast moving lead core can cut you like a knife, or imbed a large hook up to its bend in your defenseless arse, so you need to practice casting your saltwater rig before taking precious flesh in harm’s way.

A heavy rod in the 10-12 weight range is required for the open ocean, as you’re never sure what’s liable to eat next. Extra long rods are particularly useful as they keep the line as far from you as is possible.

Those heavier rods are a necessity given you’re not fishing down at the water level, perched on rocks above the waves will test your knots and tackle in excess of anything you’ve ever done before, and while you can’t lift fish with the rod, and have to point the tip at anything you’re about to bust off, even a 12 weight will feel woefully inadequate …

… especially when you stand there massaging your wrist as it’s not used to heaving that much weight …

A plastic stripping basket is standard equipment – especially so if fishing the surf line. The severe undertow will keep your feet moving to avoid being dropped by a receding wave, and both head and loose shooting line will be wrapped around both feet ort ankles via tidal surge.

When rock hopping you should visually confirm an escape route should the tide strand you on an outcropping. If fishing is good, or you aren’t sure whether the tide is incoming or outgoing, you can easily have the route onto the rock(s) made impassable with time and tides. You need to be conscious of your surroundings and know in which direction lies high ground and safety.

With the hordes of people living in cities nearby, beaches like Fort Cronkite in Marin County have legions of joggers and dog walkers that are unfamiliar with fly fishermen and their craft. They’ll jog into the path of your backcast without realizing their danger, and loose animals freed of the leash will meet with big hooks propelled by your sizzling backcast, and a Corgi or Toy Poodle will become a yelping, snarling buzzsaw of teeth and angry owner … earning you the fury of every dog lover within earshot.

With all the forces allied against you, you recognize that this is what they meant when they described that a fish has to take in enough calories to make the journey to eat the bug a wash. As you plunge yourself into the safety of your car seat after scrambling about the surf, you’ll see it as one of the most hostile environments left for the jaded jet-setting fly fisherman.

Bring a pal, no invasives to fear and misery surely loves company ..